Chronicles in Ordinary Time 123: Ordinary people who risk their lives defending freedom…

Portland, Oregon, my home town, the place that has been my residence for 65 years, has once again made national news; and once again, for something both shameful and heroic.

On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, a white supremacist murdered two white men and injured another, who is recovering in a local hospital. White men who were defending two brown-skinned girls; three heroes who moments before were strangers on a MAX train. I agree with Dan Rather:

“Their names were Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Ricky John Best. One was a recent college graduate. The other was an army veteran and father of four. I wish we would hear you say these names, or even just tweet them. They were brave Americans who died at the hands of someone who, when all the facts are collected, we may have every right to call a terrorist. A third brave man, Micah David-Cole Fletcher, was wounded in the knife attack.”https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

The murderer has been arrested.

We used to have a President who cared what happened in this country, on his watch; rather than petulantly obsessing about how the press is treating him.

We used to have a President who took to the podium in the White House newsroom, and spoke about the heroism of ordinary people who risked their lives defending freedom.

We apparently don’t have that kind of President anymore.

Thousands of people gathered at the MAX station last night for a candlelight vigil to honor the fallen. At this point in time, nearly $800,000 has been raised for medical treatment and the expenses of those involved in the attack.